Writers and Editors

Writers and Editors (Pat McNees's blog)

I've posted this list of books about wrongful convictions and related issues as a resource for book groups and those studying the criminal justice system. These books have all been recommended by the deeply worthwhile Innocence Project, which works nationwide to free the innocent and reform our criminal justice system. "DNA testing has exonerated more than 345 innocent people in the United States – and others are still waiting for justice." Do let me know of any other worthwhile books in the comments section. Donations to The Innocence Project are 100% tax-deductible.*

*DISCLOSURE: Also, buy anything from Amazon after clicking on a link here and I get a small referral fee for your purchases (at no increase in the cost to you). I will make a donation to The Innocence Project and I hope you will too. It is worth supporting in every way possible. Meanwhile, read these books! Check them out of your local library.

Comments

September 29, 2017 7:32 PM EDT

See also When ‘Not Guilty’ Is a Life Sentence (Mac McClelland, The New York Times Magazine, 9-27-17) What happens after a defendant is found not guilty by reason of insanity? Often the answer is involuntary confinement in a state psychiatric hospital — with no end in sight. Mac McClelland writes about the grim uncertainty that faces defendants who have been found not guilty by reason of insanity — and placed into a system that may deprive them of their freedom for longer than if they'd been convicted. One man she speaks to has been in a hospital for almost two decades. McClelland visits him alongside his mother, who says she put her life on hold to help tend to him for what she thought would be a few years, given that her son is technically, legally, not responsible for his crime. "On James's birthday," McClelland writes, "she brings a party: relatives, presents, a cake. And almost every week, on every visiting day, she and James try to make a life here together at the hospital — because it now seems possible that he could die there." Do read the comments, as well as the piece.

- PM

December 21, 2018 8:59 PM EST

She Was Exonerated of the Murder of Her Son. Her Life Is Still Shattered. (Pamela Colloff, NY Times Magazine, 12-20-18) Julie Rea was convicted of killing her 10-year-old son largely on the testimony of bloodstain-pattern analysts. She was later acquitted and exonerated, joining a growing community of Americans wrongly convicted with bad science. “Surviving your child’s murder, only to find out that you’re being accused of murdering your child, is a kind of trauma that I wouldn’t wish on any living being. I wouldn’t wish it on a snake.”~Julie Rea

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